Wrage: Blog Tour (+$25 Starbucks GC Giveaway!)

As more dark secrets come to light, the battle for souls push Prairieville to the brink of war in the living and supernatural realms.

Jeff Wrage swears a blood oath to Abaddon, the supernatural avenger of murder victims, to hunt the crooked cop who butchered his wife. Jeff wonders whether he can be the executioner Abaddon requires. Their pact throws the supernatual realm in chaos and threatens to trigger an apocalyptic fight for control of the afterlife between the Sons of Darkness and Sons of Light foretold in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Orlando Marino sees the death of Cyrus Black as his opportunity to restore the Marino family's stronghold in Prairieville’s organized crime scene and become a mob kingpin. He unleashes a plague, turning its victims into mindless followers. Cyrus' heir is busy rooting out a traitor and is unable to stop the coming turf war in the realm of man.

The fate of all rests with Homicide Detective Anna Duke, who steps into the shoes of her mentor while coming to terms with unrequited love. As she tries to clear the fallen hero's name, she takes on a case where corpses go missing. Her new partner is reported dead. She learns the truth about her true identity and uncovers a trail of secrets questioning her tragic past. She journeys to avert the destruction of all creation.

Ever thought about becoming an author? Have you wondered about going for a traditional publishng house, or if you should go it alone? I've got Joseph here to share about the reasons to consider self-publishing!

Reasons to consider self
publishing

Traditional publishers and
several well-established authors such as Sue Grafton and Jodi Picoult have not
minced words when talking about self publishing. They view the recent explosion
of self-published authors and independent presses much like a dog views a
mailman with a bone hanging out of his pocket.

Self publishing blindsided
traditional publishers, and broke up the monopoly of the marketplace they
enjoyed for many years. They used to control distribution throughout the United
States and all over the world. With a strong base of readers shifting their
habits either exclusively or in part to ebooks, writers regained freedom in the
distribution chain.

Traditional publishers and
agents get angry when you take money out of their pockets, and that’s exactly
what the self-publishing boon is doing. Self publishing affords authors the
chance to publish their work and make it available cheaply while printing
paperback copies on demand without spending thousands of dollars on copies up
front.

Here are things to consider if
you’re an author and the traditional publishing experience hasn’t been what you
expected.

1.Reject rejection

In
the traditional publishing world, there’s a gauntlet of people standing in the
way of making your publishing dreams happen, and rejection from anyone of them
along the way can table your manuscript. Traditional publishers tend to gamble
on works similar to what’s hot right now such as Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight
series or E.L. James’ BDSM erotica. If you fall out of this scope, self
publishing gives you a chance to let the marketplace rather than gatekeepers
from traditional publishers decide on your success.

2.It’s all about the money

Authors
keep more of the profit with no middlemen like agents and publishing houses
taking their cut. It’s not uncommon for authors to receive only 25-40 percent
in royalties on their ebooks and print books from traditional publishers. Let’s
say your ebook costs $6. After Amazon takes 30 percent, let’s say you get 40
percent of what’s left for your royalty. That would mean you get $1.68 per
book. If you self publish, you’d get $4.20 – three times what you’d get from a
traditional publisher.

3.Fast cash

It’s
not uncommon for traditional publishers to pay royalties quarterly or even
slower. Therefore, authors are left in the lurch for months trying to guess how
much of a check they’ll receive. Create Space, Kubit, andKindle Direct
Publishing all pay monthly, so your wait to see the fruit of your labor isn’t
quite as long.

4.You pick your timeline

Only
you know what best fits in your personal schedule. So, if you want to sync your
book’s launch perfectly with your life, self publishing is an easier way to
accomplish that. Traditional publishers usually release books quarterly or in
accordance with release windows which fall within seasonal shopping habits. There’s
nothing like planning a trip well in advance and then having your book release
fall smack dab in the middle of the vacation, which either causes you to cancel
your plans or puts you behind in book promotion.

5.Control freak

When
you self publish, you are accepting more of the risk certainly. However, you
also can move swiftly to make corrections. You’re in charge of oversight of
your work, and can make decisions quickly as to editorial content, design
layout, and marketing of the book. During the traditional publishing process,
it’s possible for the author’s voice, tone, and creativity to be altered by
editors, artists, bean counters and other managerial staff.

Joe
Spencer is the author of Grim, a paranormal crime thriller released by
Damnation Books in September 2012. It’s the first in the planned Sons of
Darkness series. His second book, Wrage, is due out in 2013. He can be reached
at www.josephbspencer.com.

Joseph knows that we book lovers adore coffee, so as part of his tour, he's giving out a Starbucks Giftcard! That's 25$ to be exact, and can buy you lots of delicious coffee to nom on while you're reading a lovely book...like Wrage? Comment below to win!

Yes...I love Starbucks, too, even though I'm not a coffee drinker.As a librarian, I have LOTS of comments about self-publishing. Too many authors who go the self-publishing route forego professional proofreading and/or editing. That has given it a lingering bad rap.catherinelee100 at gmail dot com